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<\/a>WRITTEN ON OUR HEARTS<\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
A Religious Liberal in Quest of a Natural Moral Law <\/p>\n
A Sermon<\/p>\n
26 October 2008<\/p>\n
James Ishmael Ford<\/p>\n
First Unitarian Church of Providence<\/p>\n
Text<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts, to which their own conscience also bears witness; and their conflicting thoughts will accuse or perhaps excuse them.<\/p>\n Paul\u2019s Letter to the Romans 2:15<\/p>\n Today I want to reflect on natural law. A dangerous proposition, of course, particularly if you\u2019ve ever found yourself on the wrong side of what one considers natural. No doubt over the ages moral assertions believed to be derived from nature have led to numerous oppressions. Right off I can think of the subjugation of women and people of different colors and homosexual persons, not to mention left-handed people and folk with red hair. That acknowledged, still, the question hangs in the air, is there some moral code that can be called natural? Doesn\u2019t our common humanity take us to some deep in our bones, written on our hearts, call to do this and to not do that?<\/p>\n I believe among the well read the inclination these days is to say no. And I find a compelling argument in that no. It was a year or so after I left the Zen monastery in Mount Shasta. I was working in a bookstore in San Diego and decided it was time to try a little college. I am, as you may recall, a High School drop out. So classes at University were out of the question. I went over to San Diego Evening College, which was only up the road a bit from the bookshop, and had open registration. As it turned out the only class available on the one evening I had free that was even vaguely interesting to me was something called Cultural Anthropology. I thought, what the heck, and signed up.<\/p>\n It was an eye opener. I\u2019d already picked up how people didn\u2019t all think the way I did. But I hadn\u2019t thought through what that might actually mean. Until, that is, I heard the term cultural relativism. This past week looking for illustrations I did a little web research but couldn\u2019t find anything that quite worked for my purposes, so I sent an email to the UU minister\u2019s list serve, soliciting personal examples of cultural misunderstanding, adding that I hoped they would be humorous.<\/p>\n I got a lot of responses. Almost all turned on how we use different terms around the country for common objects like sandwiches. While interesting and occasionally amusing, none pointed to the deeper misunderstandings of how things are in the world. Until one colleague, who as you will see, needs to remain anonymous offered an illustrative joke.<\/p>\n Before I begin, let me remind you I am of Irish descent\u2026 An Englishman, an American, and an Irishman walked together into a bar and each ordered a beer. The bartender placed a frothy mug in front of each of them. However floating in each mug was a fly. The Englishman pushed the beer aside declaring, \u201cThat\u2019s disgusting.\u201d The American pulled the fly out and started drinking his beer. The Irishman also pulled the fly out, set it on the counter and shouted \u201cYou nasty little thing, spit the rest of that beer out!\u201d Not to be defensive, but don\u2019t forget I am Irish.<\/p>\n This little joke conveys some important points. Cultural stereotyping is rooted in how people from one culture see people from another. Beneath that it points to how we see the world, and how that seeing is very much culturally bound. A culture is woven out of the stories we choose to tell about ourselves and about others. My sense is that the human mind itself is woven out of stories, my personal stories and the stories of my people. As I look relentlessly at the workings of my mind I find I am very much a product of time and place. There is liberation here, but also constraint. So, I feel a deep need to notice how these stories are going to be different across the planet. Very much including, and this is so important, our stories of what is right and what is wrong.<\/p>\n As such I think we need to cultivate a sense of cultural relativism. But cultural relativism isn\u2019t necessarily moral relativism. They\u2019re intertwined, no doubt. And I think the easy slide from one to the other by many of us, perhaps all of us at least on occasion, has been a mistake. If there is any sense in which there is a universal moral stance, ignoring it would have just as bad consequences as following false moral codes. Missing a deeper moral stance, if there is one, blinds us to who we are, you and I. And it blinds us to what goes on around the globe, and our place on this planet.<\/p>\n So, the question is hot. I know it burns deep in me. And the question is simple: is there really some universal morality? Is there something written on our hearts? In my spiritual quest, out of my years of introspection and observation, and profoundly cautioned about the consequences of misjudging, I\u2019ve come to a conclusion. I think the answer is yes.<\/p>\n As I search my heart and mind, as I look at people from around the world, I\u2019m confident there is something deep within our human consciousness which births as judgments of \u201cright\u201d and \u201cwrong\u201d behavior, whether specifics stand up to close scrutiny or not. The first observable fact is we all share a sense of right and wrong. I believe the source of our moral impulse is found within our biology. I\u2019m sure there\u2019s all sorts of stuff related to our being mammals, and specifically as a herd variety of great ape. Our mammalian inheritance and particularly belonging to that herd sub-set, prejudices us toward relationship. We desperately need others.<\/p>\n But, also I suspect very much, it has much to do with the structure of our brains, with our innate quest for pattern, that amazing ability which has given us the planet on a silver platter. I believe our ability and our need to see pattern prejudices us toward order, and gives us all a sense of fairness, although the details of what that fair is are culturally specific.<\/p>\n Taken together, this becomes the mother source of our need for a moral life. The devil, of course, lies in the details. Is there anything we can look to that can provide generally helpful rules as we try to live lives of worth and dignity? As I\u2019ve said I\u2019m hardly the first person to think about this. And over my years I\u2019ve found two codes that I find particularly interesting. The Noahide code has seven precepts. One formulation goes 1) Do not worship idols, 2) Do not blaspheme, 3) Do not commit murder, 4) Do not be sexually immoral, 5) Do not steal, 6) Pursue Justice and 7) Do not be cruel to animals. Framed more positively they can be read 1) Believe in God, 2) Respect and Praise the Divine, 3) Respect human life, 4) Respect your family, 5) Respect the rights of others, 6) Work for justice, and 7) Respect animals.<\/p>\n I find these interesting, especially that term \u201crespect.\u201d Although while in part compelling, not, for me, ultimately convincing as the best articulation of a possible universal moral code. Frankly I\u2019m much more taken with the Five Precepts of Buddhism<\/a>. These are moral precepts said to have been prescribed like medicine by the Buddha, leading he claimed, to a cure for the hurt of the human heart.<\/p>\n The five precepts are. 1) Do not kill, 2) Do not lie, 3) Do not steal, 4) Do not misuse sex and 5) Do not become intoxicated. As with the Noahide code these precepts can also be formulated positively as 1) Foster life, 2) Speak truthfully, 3) Respect boundaries, 4) Respect your body and other\u2019s bodies and 5) Remain clear and open.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve long been fascinated by the Noahide code, a \u201cuniversalist\u201d list of precepts derived from the Hebrew Scriptures which is believed in some Jewish circles to be an expression of natural law. The Lubavitcher Hasids are particularly concerned with advertising this code to the non-Jewish world, but it has an independent existence of any particular Jewish sect.<\/p>\n